When it gets ready for use early next year, Indira Paryavaran Bhavan in New Delhi will be the country’s first green building to have on-site generation of power to meet all its energy demands. To be the new address for the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests, it is a net zero energy building and also the first government-owned property with a target to be a five-star GRIHA and Leed Platinum rating building.
GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) is a green building design evaluation system, and Leed (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) is a rating system for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.
Being constructed by the Central Public Works Department, the building will generate solar power for its consumption; will have a captive sewage treatment plant, and a geo-thermal heat exchange system apart from a host of other green features.
According to CPWD officials, the Rs.200-crore project spread over 9,000 square metres in Aliganj was started in February 2011 and is likely to be completed by March 2013. “CPWD has already included green buildings to its mandate. All the new buildings coming up are minimum three-star GRIHA, but this is the first-of-its kind where we are targeting both GRIHA and Leeds Platinum rating and it is the first green building in the country where we are going to generate power on-site.”
To meet the annual demand of nearly 14 lakh units of energy, the CPWD required 6,000 sq m of roof space to put up solar panels, but had just half of that. “The building’s design was then modified, cantilevers were created to increase the area and a few solar panels are also being put on various floors. We have anticipated that the annual load would be 850 kW and we have the capacity to generate 900 kW,” said an official.
The CPWD has also written to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission to fix the rates for the energy that will be generated at the site, as it wants greater compensation for the power that will be added to the grid.
“We dug 180 bores around the campus to allow geo-thermal heat exchange. Hot air will pass through these bores where it will be cooled before it reaches the cooling towers. This will reduce the load by a large quantum and also reduce the loss of water that otherwise takes place in the cooling towers,” the official said.
To ensure no water wastage, the CPWD constructed water recharge pits around the building to store water that came up to the surface while digging the basements. “The water table here is high. When we began digging for construction of basements, water was 4 feet below ground level. So we diverted it to the recharge pits. The building will use 70 per cent less water than an ordinary one on account of low discharge water fixtures, recycling of waste water, rain water harvesting and geo-thermal cooling,” the official explained.
The CPWD is using green material like high-reflectance terrace tiles for low heat ingress, bamboo jute composite for door frames, fly ash bricks and low voltaic organic compound paints to keep the energy consumption low.
“Attention has also been paid to landscaping; we will use trees and plants that require less water. While constructing the building only 19 trees were cut, 11 were transplanted. Ninety-four more trees will be planted as against the requirement of 72 for green ratings, biodiversity parks representing seven ecological regions of the country will be created and water bodies will be used a central feature in the courtyards. We have even designed the entry and exit in such a way that vehicular movement inside the complex is minimal and with a 350-car automated parking in the basement, there will be no vehicles parked anywhere inside,” the official said.
